National Green Tribunal
Ashish Kumar Dwivedi vs State Of Uttar Pradesh on 1 March, 2023
Item No. 5 (Court No. 2)
BEFORE THE NATIONAL GREEN TRIBUNAL
PRINCIPAL BENCH, NEW DELHI.
(Through Physical Hearing with Hybrid VC Option)
Original Application No. 393/2022
(I.A. No. 37/2023)
Ashish Kumar Dwivedi ...Applicant
Versus
State of Uttar Pradesh & Ors. ...Respondents
Date of hearing: 01.03.2023
CORAM: HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE ARUN KUMAR TYAGI, JUDICIAL MEMBER.
HON'BLE DR. AFROZ AHMAD, EXPERT MEMBER.
Applicant: Mr. Saumitra Jaiswal, Advocate.
Respondents: Mr. Mukesh Verma Advocate for Respondents No. 2
and 3.
Mr. Jay Prakash, Joint Director, Mr. K.K. Rao, SMO,
Mr. Subhash Singh-Mines Officer and MR. K.G.
Shukla, Law Officer (through VC).
Ms. Mukta Arora and Ms. Simran Sehgal for Ms.
Priyanka Swami, Advocate for Respondent No. 5.
Mr. Pradeep Misra, Advocate for Respondent No. 6
with Mr. Ajay Kumar Sharma, MS-UPPCB (through
VC).
Mr. Kumar Rajesh Singh, Advocate for Respondent No.
8.
Mr. Abhishek Yadav and Mr. Saurabh Yadav,
Advocates for Respondents No. 9 and 10.
Mr. Gaurav Agarwal, Advocate for Respondents No. 11,
13 and 14.
None for Respondents No. 1, 4, 7, 12 and 15.
Application has been filed under Section 14 read with sections 15
and 18 of the National Green Tribunal Act 2010.
ORDER
1. I.A. No. 37/2022 has been filed vide email dated 31.01.2023, for permission to place on record additional documents along with affidavit. In view of the facts and circumstances mentioned therein and in the interest of justice, the application is allowed and Annexure A/1 to A/5 are taken on record.
O.A No. 393/2022 Ashish Kumar Dwivedi Vs. State of Uttar Pradesh & Ors. -2-
2. As per office report notices have been duly served on Respondents No. 9 to 14. None has appeared for Respondents No. 1, 4, 7, 12 and 15 and they are proceeded ex-parte.
3. Reply has been filed by Respondent No. 9 vide email dated 30.01.2023 and the same is taken on record.
4. Learned counsel for Respondents No. 2 and 3, 5, 10, 11, 13 and 14 seek time to file reply on their behalf and the request is allowed.
5. The Project Proponents appearing before this Tribunal are directed to submit along with their reply, the Environmental Management and CSR Programmes implemented/to be implemented by them with details of works, time line, budget, agency for implementation etc.
6. Reply/response on behalf of Respondents No. 2 and 3, 5, 10, 11, 13 and 14 be filed by email within one month by email at judicial- [email protected] preferably in the form of searchable PDF/OCR supported PDF and not in the form of Image PDF.
7. In compliance of order dated 16.12.2022, Mr. Jay Prakash, Joint Director-Directorate of Geology and Mining, State of Uttar Pradesh and Mr. Ajay Kumar Sharma, MS-UPPCB have appeared through VC and we have interacted with them.
8. In the present case, M/s Pehalwan Traders, M/s Kanha Company, M/s Annapurna Udyog, Mr. Shalendra Yadav, Mr. Shrikant Gupta, Mr. Anand Kumar Gupta and M/s D.V. Constructions were carrying out mining in clusters in and around rivers Betwa, Yamuna & Ken in District Hamirpur in the State of Uttar Pradesh and some of them were operating without obtaining CTE/CTO from the UPPCB. Such instances of carrying O.A No. 393/2022 Ashish Kumar Dwivedi Vs. State of Uttar Pradesh & Ors.
-3-out of mining without obtaining CTE/CTO from the UPPCB have also come to notice of this Tribunal earlier in number of cases.
9. Remedial measures are required to be taken by the concerned Authorities in the entire State, i.e., the Director-Geology and Mining, State of Uttar Pradesh, the Member Secretary, UPPCB, the concerned District Magistrates and the Regional Officers, UPPCB, in accordance with law, so that mining does not commence before grant of CTE/CTO by UPPCB.
10. For consideration of the matter of adequacy of such remedial measures and issuance of appropriate directions by this Tribunal for compliance with environmental norms, it is also essential that the Director-Geology and Mining, State of Uttar Pradesh and the Member Secretary, UPPCB be directed to furnish the relevant information to this Tribunal.
11. Accordingly, the Director-Geology and Mining, State of Uttar Pradesh is directed to file an affidavit furnishing information in tabular form mentioning in detail all relevant particulars of mining leases which are in operation in the State of U.P., including name of the mining lessee, date of the mining lease agreement, period of validity, date of commencement of mining, date of obtaining of EC from SEIAA as per applicability and CTE/CTO from UPPCB, date of sending of information regarding execution of lease agreement and commencement of mining to the UPPCB by email at at [email protected] preferably in the form of searchable PDF/OCR supported PDF and not in the form of Image PDF within one month from receipt of copy of this order.
12. The Member Secretary, UPPCB is also directed to file an affidavit furnishing information in tabular form in respect of mining leases in O.A No. 393/2022 Ashish Kumar Dwivedi Vs. State of Uttar Pradesh & Ors.
-4-operation in the State of U.P. with all relevant particulars including the status of EC by SEIAA, date of receipt of application for grant of CTE/CTO, date of grant of CTE/CTO, pendency of applications for grant/renewal of CTE/CTO, number of cases involving carrying out of mining without grant of EC/CTE/CTO by UPPCB, number of cases in which environmental compensation has been imposed, number of cases in which environmental compensation has been recovered/realized, number of cases in which recovery of environmental compensation is pending, number of cases of mining in which copy of the mining lease agreement/information of commencement of mining was not sent to the UPPCB by the Director, Geology and Mining, Government of Uttar Pradesh and concerned District Magistrate and such statement be filed within one month by email at at [email protected] preferably in the form of searchable PDF/OCR supported PDF and not in the form of Image PDF.
13. List for further consideration on 25.04.2023.
14. A copy of this order be sent to the Director-Geology and Mining, State of Uttar Pradesh and the Member Secretary, UPPCB by email for requisite compliance.
Arun Kumar Tyagi, JM Dr. Afroz Ahmad, EM March 1, 2023 AVT